Insider Selling: Equitable (NYSE:EQH) Insider Sells $794,500.52 in Stock

Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EQH) insider Nick Lane sold 14,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.24, for a total transaction of $794,500.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 110,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,856,772.68. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Equitable Stock Performance

Shares of Equitable stock opened at $52.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.03. Equitable Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.19 and a 52 week high of $55.15. The company has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a PE ratio of -15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.10.

Equitable (NYSE:EQH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. Equitable had a negative net margin of 8.72% and a positive return on equity of 511.35%. The firm’s revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equitable Holdings, Inc. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Equitable Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Equitable’s payout ratio is currently -36.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQH. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equitable by 92.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,712,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in Equitable in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,133,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Equitable by 1,126.5% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,332,000 after purchasing an additional 267,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Equitable by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 626,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,120,000 after purchasing an additional 196,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Equitable from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings cut Equitable from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded Equitable from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Equitable from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $68.00 price objective on Equitable in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.75.

Equitable Company Profile

Equitable Holdings, Inc is a financial services company that provides retirement, life insurance and wealth management solutions. Its businesses serve individuals, families, employers and institutions through financial professionals and advisory channels.

The company’s principal operations include Equitable, which offers individual life insurance, annuities, retirement plans and employee benefits, and Equitable Advisors, which provides financial planning and investment advice. Equitable Holdings also owns a majority interest in AllianceBernstein, a global investment management firm serving institutional and retail clients.

The company traces its history to 1859, when the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States was founded.